A High Court judge has ordered 30 construction firms, including Sir Robert McAlpine and Balfour Beatty, to disclose all emails and correspondence linked to blacklisting of union reps and safety activists.<\/p>\n
The ruling came at the end of a two-day hearing<\/a> last week where it emerged that documents had been destroyed relating to firms\u2019 involvement with the illegal covert blacklister, the industry-controlled and financed Consulting Association. Firms and four individuals will now have to carry out costly searches of back-up computer tapes of emails to disclose any relevant information by 12 February. The court also ruled that contractors must pay costs for the hearing, estimated at up to \u00a3100,000.<\/p>\n The union-backed High Court hearing is part of ongoing legal action on behalf of 168 blacklisted workers. It follows last October\u2019s unprecedented admission of guilt by construction firms.<\/p>\n Howard Beckett director of legal services with the union Unite<\/a>, commented: \u201cDespite admitting their guilt, it is shameful the lengths that some of the construction firms involved in blacklisting have gone to cover up their involvement.\u201d He added that the \u201cstain of blacklisting\u201d would not be fully removed \u201cuntil there is a full public inquiry and the livelihoods of the blacklisted is restored by the firms involved giving them a permanent job.\u201d<\/p>\n